US 2018 Video Game Sales Crushed A New Record At $43B, Thanks To Red Dead, Fortnite, And More

With genres ranging from action to adventure, last year heralded a fresh new roster of titles for gaming fans to enjoy. Audiences have been swept away in the wild, wild west with Red Dead Redemption 2, and also with the non-stop action found in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. According to The Hollywood Reporter, statewide video games sales reached a new record last year, with revenue hitting a whopping $43.4 billion in total. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and The NPD Group notes that last year’s numbers represent a sizeable 18 percent increase from sales during 2017.

Last year ushered in some massive videogame titles, including Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, and Marvel's Spider-Man, which stole the show as some of the year’s biggest grossing hits. Games such as God of War and Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate also brought in some serious change, representing a massive surge in video game sales.

Interestingly enough, hardware sales also showed an increasing trend from previous statistics. New advances in technology, such as virtual reality headsets, and sleek controllers, also brought about a 15 percent increase in overall hardware revenue. Childhood nostalgia is a never-ending fad, and classic plug-and-play consoles also cashed in on the trend. The SNES Classic and the PlayStation Classic were two major players in the nostalgic resurgence of classic consoles.

With the introduction of the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo has certainly enjoyed some serious time in the spotlight. With over 22 million consoles sold worldwide, the Nintendo Switch quickly surpassed the PlayStation 4 as the year’s best-selling video game console. When it comes to titles, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate nabbed the crown for the best-selling videogame over the holiday season, and it also made headlines for being the only exclusively Nintendo title to crush the best-seller list last year. In the United States alone, over 8.7 million Nintendo Switch units have been sold to date, and the console has been recognized for one of the fastest-selling yet.

Speaking on the console’s recent success, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime shared a few words with fans. "We’re only in our second holiday and the consumer is indicating that, for them, this product, with this great alignment of software, really is a must-have product and something that they need to have now."

Amazingly enough, these statistics prove that the videogame industry has absolutely crushed movie ticket sales as of late. According to recent figures from The Hollywood Reporter, movie ticket sales took in a total of $11.9 billion last year, which was a small increase from the record set in 2016 at $11.4 billion. In comparison, a new study by Nielsen's SuperData Research division revealed that global digital revenue from gaming crushed previous records at $109.8 billion last year. Based off of the wild popularity of Fortnite, from Epic Games, this news should come as no big surprise—the title alone made $2.8 billion in 2018. With a new year already underway, stay tuned for more updates on the latest gaming revenue news for 2019.